Eric Charles Clark (born July 25, 1951) is an American politician and academic who served as the Secretary of State of Mississippi from 1996 to 2008.
Eric Clark | |
|---|---|
| 34th Secretary of State of Mississippi | |
| In office January 4, 1996 – January 10, 2008 | |
| Governor | Kirk Fordice Ronnie Musgrove Haley Barbour |
| Preceded by | Dick Molpus |
| Succeeded by | Delbert Hosemann |
| Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from the 79th district 80th (1980-1984) | |
| In office January 1980 – January 16, 1996 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 25, 1951 Mize, Mississippi, U. S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | Millsaps College (BA) University of Mississippi (MA) Mississippi State University (PhD) |
Early life and education
editEric Charles Clark was born on July 25, 1951, in Mize, Mississippi. Graduating from Taylorsville High School, he earned a Bachelor of Arts from Millsaps College, Master of Arts from the University of Mississippi, and PhD in history from Mississippi State University.[1] His father, John Clark, served in the Mississippi House of Representatives in the 1930s and 1940s.[2]
Career
editClark began his career as a high school and community college teacher. He was a history instructor at Mississippi College from 1989 to 1995. He was a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, representing Smith County districts, for four terms from 1980 to 1996.[3][4][5][6] On January 3, 1984, he challenged the leadership of Speaker Buddie Newman by moving for the adoption of a set of House rules which unbundled some of the powers of the speakership. His proposal failed, but gained the support of 25 other representatives, leading to the collective label of the "Gang of 26". Newman responded to the challenge to his authority by assigning the 26 insignificant committee responsibilities.[7]
In 1987, reformist legislators succeeded in curbing some of the powers of the speaker. Following Newman's replacement by Tim Ford in January 1988, Clark was made chairman of the House Rules Committee.[8]
In 1995 Clark ran for the office of Secretary of State of Mississippi. He narrowly defeated Amy Tuck in the Democratic primary runoff and faced Republican state senator Barbara Blanton in the general election. He campaigned on his legislative record in the House of Representatives and defeated her in the November 7 contest.[9] He was sworn in on January 4, 1996.[10] He was re-elected in 1999 and 2003. He did not seek reelection in 2007[11] and was succeeded in office by Republican Delbert Hosemann on January 10, 2008.[12][13] He served as the interim Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives at the opening of its 2008 session on January 8 to swear in the legislators before allowing the body to elect its own leadership.[14]
In 2008 Clark was made executive director of the Mississippi Community College Board.[15] He retired in June 2015.[16]
References
edit- ^ Legislative Handbook 1980, p. 30.
- ^ Nash & Taggart 2009, p. 330.
- ^ "SC 591 (As Adopted by Senate and House) - 2007 Regular Session". billstatus.ls.state.ms.us. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
- ^ "house/1984-88 - House of Representatives (1948-2016)". MS Digital Archives. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
- ^ "house/1988-92 - House of Representatives (1948-2016)". MS Digital Archives. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
- ^ "house/1993-96 - House of Representatives (1948-2016)". MS Digital Archives. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
- ^ Nash & Taggart 2009, pp. 193–194.
- ^ "Clark to lead Rules committee". The Scott County Times. January 20, 1988. p. 1.
- ^ Ragland, Lee (November 8, 1995). "Clark breezes into secretary of state's post". The Clarion-Ledger. p. 5A.
- ^ Holland, Gina (January 5, 1996). "State swears in seven Democrats to statewide offices". The Clarksdale Press Register. Associated Press. p. 5.
- ^ Wells, Valerie (January 19, 2008). "Clark picked to lead 2-year schools". Hattiesburg American. pp. 1A, 4A.
- ^ Lane, Sherra H.; Scott, Omeria (January 24, 2008). "A Weekly Summary Report For the Week Ending January 11, 2008". The Clarke County Tribune. p. 11.
- ^ Byrd, Shelia (January 11, 2008). "7 statewide officials take oath of office". Hattiesburg American. pp. 3A, 9A.
- ^ Nash & Taggart 2009, pp. 322–333.
- ^ "Community college board exec Eric Clark to retire". Mississippi Business Journal. Associated Press. September 21, 2014. Archived from the original on October 14, 2014.
- ^ Amy, Jeff (September 20, 2015). "Juco director glad to come home : Mayfield to start work Dec. 1 at $278K a year". The Greenwood Commonwealth. p. 4A.
Works cited
edit- 1982 Legislative Handbook. Jackson: Mississippi Legislature. 1980. OCLC 10993584.
- Nash, Jere; Taggart, Andy (2009). Mississippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976-2008 (second ed.). University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781604733570.